December 20, 2016 Tuesday Night SmackDown
The December 20, 2016 Edition of Smackdown is a Professional wrestling television show of the WWE's Smackdown brand, which took place on December 20, 2016 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The guest host was Ryan Phillippe. Episode summary The Miz vs Apollo Crews Last week, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias embarrassed Intercontinental Champion The Miz and caused him to lose to Apollo Crews at the 14th Annual Tribute to the Troops. While Iglesias did not return to SmackDown LIVE this week, The A-Lister and Crews clashed with The Miz’s title on the line. In the height of the subsequent match, Maryse tried to get involved to aid The A-Lister, leading to the referee ejecting her from ringside. The two Superstars then went at it on an even playing field, and just when Crews appeared to be nearing victory, Miz was able to sneak an eye poke in behind the official’s back. This led him to connect with the Skull-Crushing Finale to retain his title. After the match, things got tense when Renee Young tried to conduct an interview with The Miz, asking him a question about his beef with Dean Ambrose. Miz turned it around and made an inappropriate comment about her relationship with Ambrose outside of the ring. Young did not take kindly to The Miz’s words and promptly slapped him before storming off. Natalya admitted to attacking Nikki Bella Sick of the rumors surrounding the attack on Nikki Bella at Survivor Series, Natalya asked the Fearless Superstar to come to the ring. Before they could get a word out, however, Carmella decided to join the party. And when The Princess of Staten Island started firing away with all the things she claimed Nattie said about Nikki, the agitated Queen of Harts got so wrapped up in it that she accidently confirmed the things Carmella was saying were true. After chasing the instigator up the ramp and hurling her into the Christmas tree on the SmackDown LIVE set, Natalya admitted that she had, in fact, attacked Nikki at Survivor Series and added insult to injury by hurling her with insults and saying that John Cena would never marry her. Alexa Bliss vs La Luchadora With only one week until her SmackDown Women’s Championship defense against Becky Lynch at SmackDown LIVE’s Wild Card Finals, Alexa Bliss would first have to focus her attention on La Luchadora, a local competitor … or so we thought. Although SmackDown LIVE General Manager Daniel Bryan implicated that Bliss, following her “injury” situation last week, could be stripped of her championship if she did not compete in this match, the Wicked Witch of WWE began the contest against the relative unknown with confidence. However, that confidence was quickly dashed when La Luchadora began to get some momentum rolling. Suddenly had a striking resemblance to The Irish Lass Kicker, even locking in the Dis-arm-her for the win! After the match, La Luchadora celebrated and broke Lucha tradition and unmasked … to reveal herself as Becky Lynch! The duped Bliss was livid as Lynch celebrated the victory and obtained the mental advantage heading into next week. Results * Singles Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship: 'The Miz © (w/ Maryse) defeated Apollo Crews * '''Singles Match: 'La Luchadora defeated Alexa Bliss by submission Other on-screen talent * '''Interviewers: Renee Young & Dasha Fuentes Media Category:SmackDown episodes Category:2016 television episodes Category:Maryse Category:Episodes featuring Renee Young Category:Natalya Category:Carmella Category:Nikki Bella Category:Alexa Bliss Category:Episodes featuring Becky Lynch Category:Episodes featuring Dasha Fuentes Category:WWE television episodes